hi, it's been a while and generally my betta fish, Leo, was doing amazing! he can now swim through a hoop
But yesterday he did something that really alarmed me... i was just feeding him a pellet when all of a sudden the sight of my hand seemed to alarm him, and he began darting around the aquarium. He then proceeded to hide in a corner behind the filter and play dead. this really scared me, he has never done this in the past... i didn't even know they could do that and i thought he was really dead for a second
anyway, I left him to go to sleep overnight, and in the morning he seemed okay, but then as soon as I tried to give him breakfast (he gets food in the morning and at night) he saw my hand again, and he did the same thing again. since then he has just been darting wildly at the sight of me.
I am not sure, but i think that this may be caused by my nails, I painted them a dark blue, the exact same color that Leo is, and i think that the bright colors are alarming him, because he did not do it when my mom tried to play with him.
Any help or other suggestions on what might be causing this strange darting??? it's making me very sad, he normally loves the sight of me

WOW!
That is so interesting! I never thought of fish perceiving color...but what a neat experiment! I know it wasn't neat for you, LOL but that really is cool.
Playing dead... I believe it. Betta's seem so much more intelligent than other fish...
I wish you could have recorded that.

My bettas are the same, too. They react very strongly if they see a certain colour near them. My old betta responded very strongly whenever he would see anything bright pink or green - he would flare right up for minutes at a time! I think its kind of cute and funny to see. XD My male Orpheus reacts that way when he sees the colour black. He'll swim away like a little chicken, but then come back in full force and flare like there's no tomorrow!

My bettas are the same, too. They react very strongly if they see a certain colour near them. My old betta responded very strongly whenever he would see anything bright pink or green - he would flare right up for minutes at a time! I think its kind of cute and funny to see. XD My male Orpheus reacts that way when he sees the colour black. He'll swim away like a little chicken, but then come back in full force and flare like there's no tomorrow!

Wow thats so cool :) that would be a very neat experiment, if i wasn't so scared for my fish playing dead :P

UPDATE: i took of the nail polish a few days ago, and i didn't post again because I thought everything was all better, yet today he has been sulking near the bottom, and i tried to play with him, but he flipped out again! I'm pretty sure it's not the color thing anymore... he didn't play dead this time, just darts around, and then goes back to sulking at the bottom, only coming up for air. whats wrong with him?!?! someone help please :(